The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games are entering their final stages.
But the event’s history will be kept alive at a webinar later today, exploring the British roots of winter sports on the Olympic stage.
Organised by the Olympic Studies And Research Centre (OSRC) at the University of East London (UEL), the event will feature talks from sports historians Martin Polley, who examined how the 1908 London Summer Games paved the way for a winter counterpart; and Philip Barker, who has looked into the key milestones which ultimately led to the launching of the Winter Games.
Polley, who is also Emeritus Professor at De Montfort University, said: “The Winter Olympics have a much more complicated history than the official version suggests, and London plays a unique role in that history.
“I'm excited to be sharing my research on the Winter Programme of the 1908 London Olympics through this UEL webinar, and to showcase some of the amazing Olympic materials that the University has in its archive”.
Andy Galbraith, Research Lead at UEL’s Olympic Studies and Research Centre, spoke to East End Review about east London’s rich Olympic heritage.
He said: “Our location and local community are central to the work and research we conduct. The University of East London has deep-rooted connections with the movement; our campuses are situated in the heart of Newham, a key host borough for the London 2012 Olympics.
“UEL’s SportsDock facility served as the official high-performance training base for Team USA basketball during those Games”.
With the 2026 Winter Olympics drawing to a close in just four days, what better moment to look back at how it all began?
Galbraith added: “It is a little over 100 years since the first Winter Olympics, so it seems like a perfect time to look back at their origins, and we hope Wednesday's webinar will give the audience a good insight into this history.
“From a personal perspective, I have really enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics on the television over the past weeks with my children, and it has been great to see them inspired by events which they might not otherwise be exposed to.
“I think this will be the same globally, where the current Winter Olympic Games will be inspiring the next generation of athletes, coaches, sport scientists, medical professionals, journalists and major sporting event organisers of the future. The audience is in for a real treat!”
The Olympic Studies and Research Centre at UEL in Newham houses Team GB’s archives and has preserved British Olympic history from 1906 right up to today.
Galbraith added: “Wednesday's event will be the inaugural seminar from the newly-founded Olympic Studies and Research Centre at the University of East London.
“In 2025, we [OSRC] were delighted to be approved to join the academic Olympic Studies and Research Centre network - a group of 84 centres across 28 countries and five continents. We are proud to be the only recognised centre in London and one of only five in the UK”.
The webinar begins at 6pm today on Microsoft Teams. Register here.
